The Whispers of God

Since our family lives without electricity and we tap into a well for our water needs, we operate a generator near the well. The generator provides the electricity needed to pump water from the well to a holding tank. If the water in the tank runs dry, it calls for a trip to the generator to turn it on–refilling the tank.

On one particular day when I was home alone, the water tank ran dry. This meant a trip to the generator, a chore I’d usually rather leave to someone else. This generator isn’t one of those fancy types that turn on by merely touching a button. I compare it to an old lawnmower I remember as a teen: a mechanical monster with a pull-rope that demanded I pull it with all my strength–only to be jerked back so fast I was certain it wanted to rip my arm off for dinner!

So there I stood over this cold monster, our generator. Reaching for the rope I pulled it with all my strength. It failed to turn on and fulfilled my greatest fears. Before I let go of the rope, it had yanked me back with such incredible force I felt like a cartoon character whose long, elastic arms streched down to the ground lke a chimpanzee’s. We played tup-of-war for a while before I finally sat down and cried out to God, and I do mean cried. Getting up . . . wiping myself off, I stared down at the uncooperative monster, giving one last pull on the rope–and it started!

Yet, instead of jumping for joy and thanking God, as I should have, I was miffed. “Ok, God,” I asked, “Why do You wait until I’m upset and crying before You will answer me?” The Lord responded softly and whispered in my heart, “You didn’t really want My help until you cried out. Why didn’t you exercise your faith sooner?” Of course, the Lord was right. Striving to win the battle in my own strength, I hadn’t sought God’s help until I’d given up, completly frustrated that I couldn’t do it on my own. The Lord began whispering to my heart, teaching me more about faith through this “whisper story.”

Just as I’d rather have sent someone else to struggle with the generator, we often feel more comfortable sending someone else to have the faith needed for our problems. And in the same way I tried to fight the generator with my own mucle-power, many times we try to solve problems by exerting our own brute strength. But what power source do we rely on? “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, Says the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6b/NKJ).

We don’t win our battles by our might or power, i.e., strength. We win our battles as our faith grows–by putting less trust in the weak arm of self and more in the strong hands of God. It’s usually when we’re knee-deep in our own weakness that we see most clearly how strong our God is. (Excerpt from chapter 2 of “Learning to Hear the Whispers of God”)

Prayer,
Lord, Help me to live my life by Your Spirit and not my own strength–so that I might truly live, and bring glory to Your name.